The South Carolina Supreme Court has refused to overturn the death sentence of Freddie Owens, who will be given a lethal injection on September 20 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. His will be the first death penalty to be carried out in the state in 13 years, since the last one dates back to May 2011.
As Nbc explains, the judges unanimously rejected two requests from defense attorneys, according to which the court should have evaluated new information on the case, useful for sentencing Owens to life in prison. But the judges ruled that there were no "exceptional circumstances" necessary to allow the defendant another appeal.
Owens, 46, was sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of convenience store clerk Irene Graves in Greenville. Co-defendant Steven Golden testified that Owens shot Graves in the head because he was unable to open the safe. Surveillance camera footage did not clearly show the dynamics of the shooting and the weapon was never found.
